1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to video processing and more specifically to dynamic personalized audio in contextual video programs.
2. Introduction
For decades television networks have divided television content along clearly marked boundaries: advertisements and television shows. Television networks broadcast a show interrupted by series of advertisements. Typically these advertisements follow strict time constraints of 15, 30, or 60 seconds, but some variations have been and are currently used. In the past, soap operas incorporated advertisements into the show by having actors sing or speak advertising text during the usual program. Infomercials appear to be a television show, but are really a show-length, paid advertisement disguised as a television show. While some variations are used and have been experimented with in the past, the time-tested pattern of “show, ad break, show, ad break” is followed by nearly every television channel in some form or another.
With the advent of digital video recorders (DVR) such as TiVo, television viewers are able to record, timeshift, pause live television, fast forward, and, most importantly, easily skip traditional advertisements in recorded television. While these abilities are heralded as a great boon by television viewers, advertisers are less optimistic because viewers can skip advertisements at will. With fewer viewers, advertisements are less effective, which causes problems for advertisers. With less effective advertisements and fewer viewers, television networks cannot charge advertisers as much for commercial air time.
To respond to the problem of skipping advertisements, advertisers and television networks are turning to more embedded approaches in addition to traditional advertisements. For example, television networks promote other television shows in graphics and videos superimposed over a portion of the screen, like a scrolling station identifier, a picture of Homer Simpson's head, and text saying “Simpsons are coming up next at 7:30, only on FOX 21.” Such advertisements are typically relegated to a corner or edge of the screen and are usually unrelated to the primary television show. These sorts of advertisements and promotional information are commonplace now and are difficult or impossible to remove from the viewer's sight by means of a DVR. However viewers are increasingly desensitized to these unrelated, superimposed video objects and pay less and less attention to them. Further, these video objects are frequently annoying, disrupt the show, and can obscure important parts of the screen. These overlaid advertisements are broadcast to each viewer and are not tailored to the interests and demographic of each viewer. Advertisers and television networks are constantly searching for new ways to advertise so that viewers pay attention and respond to advertising. Television networks can replace video segments with advertising, but then the accompanying audio does not always match.
Additionally, these known approaches to advertising are not personalized or targeted to each viewer. Advertising in this untargeted way is inefficient. As new video objects are replaced and laid over existing content, audio may not match. For example, if a soda-pop bottle replaces a can in a video clip, the associated sound does not match when the can/bottle is opened. The discord that arises from the mismatch detracts from the effect of the replacement. Accordingly, what is needed in the art is an improved way to smoothly blend targeted advertisements with audio content.